Early detection and treatment of congenital dislocation of the hip in the newborn.

In the neonatal department in our hospital we screen all babies soon after birth for congenital dislocation of the hip. We distinguish among three pathological entities--dislocatable, dislocated and irreducibly dislocated hips. Treatment is based on four principles: 1) it should be carried out on all dislocated and dislocatable hips, 2) it should start soon after birth, 3) it should carry no iatrogenic complications, 4) the clinical follow-up should continue indefinitely. Since there were late detections despite the neonatal screening, we concluded that routine X-ray of the hips should be taken at the age of six months of the group at risk, i.e., babies with a positive family history of CDH, those delivered in breech presentation or by cesarean section because of breech presentation, those of ethnic groups with high incidence of CDH, and babies who escaped the routine screening.